


The Boy (The Girl) Who Wouldn't Grow Up

by Shadow_Chaser



Series: In Blinded Skies [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Answers a few questions to AoS regarding Lincoln's recruitment and Phil's hand, Clint Barton is a good mentor and bro, Daisy and Matt kicking a lot of ass in this story (with Coulson and Clint backing them up), Gen, Gets a little Matt Fraction in regards to Clint and Kate, It's another St. Agnes Orphanage reunion!, More secrets revealed, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Episode: s01e13 Daredevil, Post-Episode: s02e21-22 S.O.S. Parts 1-2, Pre-Ant-Man, Pre-Episode: s03e01 Laws of Nature, Pre-Season 2 of Daredevil, Skye and Matt are grown up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-24 05:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6143491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Chaser/pseuds/Shadow_Chaser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few weeks after the events of "The Voice of Never-Never Land" Skye/Daisy finds herself back in New York City.  Teaming up with Clint Barton to find his wayward protege, Kate Bishop, she'll discover that some secrets are devilishly damning while others, might just kill her, especially when it comes to the Inhumans Initiative.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So, the Avengers don't really live at the Tower anymore, huh?” Daisy Johnson, formerly known as Skye, commented as she gingerly peered down the edge of the building, the wind whipping at her short hair for a brief moment.

“Not really,” Coulson commented absently, but with an edge to his voice and she turned from where she was looking to see him grimace as he seemingly tried to twist something in his wrist. She gave him a sympathetic smile and stepped away from the edge of the building, mindful of the broken glass still scattered around after Ultron's attack and escape from the Avengers Tower. It had been a few weeks since Sokovia and everything was still being slowly repaired – at least that was supposedly the story. Skye had seen the aftermath Maria Hill had sent over after Ultron had escaped, and to her, it looked like Stark had not even begun _any_ repairs. She wondered if it was something bigger preventing him from fixing the building he loved and cherished so much.

“Hill told me that they took over one of Stark Industries' old facilities in upstate New York. Good training facility for the Avengers and for SHIELD personnel still in need of a safe haven after what happened on the _Iliad_ ,” Coulson grabbed his wrist and tried to twist it some more before grunting in frustration. “Dammit, this stupid thing-”

“AC, it's gonna take some time,” Daisy patted her mentor and boss gently on the shoulder as he gave her a wan smile and sighed. “This was only temporary, remember? It's why you're here.”

“...Yeah...” Coulson stopped fiddling with his arm and gave her a bracing look, “thanks, you know, for coming out here since May is-”

“Hey,” she warned him, “don't even say it. I'm just glad to get out of the base once in a while. Though it's kind of nice to be back in the Big Apple without shit hitting fan like last time.”

Though it had only been a few weeks since she had been in New York last, to her, it had felt like a lifetime ago. She wondered if she would have a chance to maybe find Matt Murdock at his law firm, but pushed that thought out of her head as she saw Coulson nod agreeably. Her friend and almost-father-like figure in her life had just gone through a lot of trauma and with May gone on her vacation with her husband, Daisy knew that she would have to be Coulson's support – someone just there who understood what he had gone through. She would have to find Matt next time.

“If you want, Stark's probably gonna take some time with the hand-”

“Nah,” she waved away his offer with a sunny smile of her own, “listen, I get left alone in the Tower like this, minus the cosplay, I'm gonna get into some trouble.”

“Skye, er, Daisy...” Coulson only smiled a little at her joke, but he also looked at her seriously and she grinned in return.

“What?” she protested, “it's just...the computers are calling and waiting for my special touch. Who knows? Maybe I can make sure that someone in the future like Ultron can't get back into the system-”

“I've already accounted for that redundancy, little lady,” the familiar arrogant tone that Daisy had heard time and time again over news broadcasts made her turn to see Tony Stark himself walking out of the elevator with another person shadowing him, a grim expression on his face. Daisy realized with a start of surprise that it was none other than Hawkeye, or rather Agent Clint Barton, another one of the Avengers.

“Agent,” Stark addressed Coulson blithely, “or rather, Director. Congrats on the promotion though, you know, even with Fury not dead.”

“Stark,” the expression Coulson wore was one that Daisy was familiar with, a bland smile of patience, but there was an edge of tightness in it that she realized was only there because of shared history. It took her a moment to realize that the two had been bantering with one another.

She glanced over to Stark who walked over to the ruined bar and peered over it before plucking what looked like a really good bottle of scotch and opening it. Judging by what she knew about Tony Stark based on his media history, he was arrogant, selfish, insulting, and generally a know-it-all. That said, she also could not help but be in slight awe at the fact that she was _standing_ in the same room as the former co-leader of the Avengers, Iron Man himself. She shot a quick look at Hawkeye and felt a giddy flutter of excitement at the fact that he too was here. Here were two Avengers...

“Hey Phil,” Hawkeye glanced at her before looking at Phil, nodding a greeting, “fancy seeing you here.”

Phil held up his mechanical hand which sparked a little and to Daisy's eyes, looked a little stiltedly off-kilter. No wonder her boss was trying to fiddle with it on their way here. “Got Luke Skywalker-ed, except no parental revelations for me,” he commented and Daisy stifled a giggle with a barely-covered cough, “Stark offered to build a replacement.”

“Need help?” Barton smiled a little at the joke, but Daisy immediately caught the undercurrent of furious anger in his light tone. Coulson had not said much about his past history with the Avengers, but Daisy knew enough that Phil had worked with a lot of the Avengers, the exception being Captain America and only then it was very brief after he was out of the ice. The fact that Barton seemed really angry on Coulson's behalf surprised her at the same time it warmed her to know that there were others who cared a lot about Coulson's well-being.

“It's been handled,” Coulson shrugged and Barton returned the gesture with his own.

“Let me know. Laura's got me fixing the tractor, but Nat and I can help if you want,” Barton replied before turning to Tony who was fishing out several glasses that weren't broken or cracked and was pouring fingers of scotch into them. “Stark, your girl Friday got anything on what I need?”

“Girl Friday?” Daisy murmured, a little confused.

“I have almost finished compiling the information and parameters given, Agent Barton,” the sudden burst of a feminine voice with an Irish accent startled Daisy enough that she jumped and looked around, her hand instinctively going to her ICER by her leg holster.

There was a faint snort of laughter and Daisy turned to see Barton staring at her, a slightly approving, yet amused look on his face. She frowned at him as she relaxed and rolled her eyes. She should have known that Stark would have had another A.I. installed when it was rumored that his former A.I. JARVIS became a true A.I. codenamed Vision. They had read the mission briefs regarding Sokovia.

“May-trained?” he asked, a kind, but sharp look in his eyes.

“I can't confirm or deny that,” she replied with a smirk and he laughed out right.

“Definitely May-trained. And you-trained too, Phil,” Barton shot a look at Coulson who had a mild look on his face, “she's got the whole secret agent thing down pat. Deny, deny, deny, or just make up something too.” He looked at her again, “Good on you for not making a rookie mistake of revealing too much, especially your supervising officer.”

“I'm afraid I have no idea who or what you're talking about,” she replied, knowing that he was teasing her. At the same time, she also knew that he was testing her in his own way and she was at least determined to make sure that her first impression towards two of the Avengers was going to be a good one. “I'm here to check out Stark's infrastructure and to steal all of his corporate information by using Coulson here as my entry.”

“Uh, yeah no,” Stark spoke up as he finished pouring the drinks and walked back over to them, “sorry Agent Skye, or rather, Agent Johnson, I guess, you're not going anywhere near one of my computers.” He handed out the drinks and Daisy took hers, but did not sip it. Instead she smelled it and it smelled like extremely expensive scotch.

“Rats,” she grinned and saw Stark smile in return before shaking his head at her antics and nudged Barton's ribs.

“That girl there? One of the best hackers. Know about Crimson Tide?”

“Yeah?”

“Her,” Stark grinned, “well, until she disappeared off the face of the planet about two years ago. Hill alerted me to her presence and her skills during the whole Ultron thing along with the fact that she was with Coulson here, but hey, you know...things moved a little too fast.” Stark looked at her, “Sorry, kid, didn't get a chance to get you on board. You might have helped, but-”

“No worries,” she was mildly surprised at how much Stark knew, but then again, she had a feeling that all of the Avengers knew a lot more than they let on, “had my own problems to deal with. But yeah, any time you need my help with some megalomaniac who wants to drop a country on this planet, I'm your girl.”

“Agent Barton, I have the files you have requested,” the feminine artificial intelligence voice spoke up.

“Great,” Barton said before moving away from them, absently sipping his scotch before Daisy saw a small multitude of windows pop up in a virtual display in front of Barton.

“So,” Stark cleared his throat and Daisy turned back to see him gesturing to Coulson to lift his mechanical hand up to which he did, his other hand clutching the untouched scotch. “All right, let's see what's wrong,” Stark gestured for him to place the glass he hand in his other hand into the mechanical one and Coulson did. Seconds later, Daisy jumped back a little as did Stark as the glass shattered in Coulson's mechanical one.

“Okay, I see the problem, or at least the big one. There's a few others, but we can tackle this one first,” Stark nodded and finished his scotch before moving to hold Coulson's mechanical hand. Daisy watched, oddly fascinated as Stark fiddled with something in the hand and it suddenly broke away from the rest of Coulson as he deftly examined it.

She could see Coulson staring at the hand in Stark's own and patted him gently on his shoulder before shoving her own glass into his view. “Thanks,” he replied before taking the proffered drink and downed it in one gulp.

They watched as Stark absently moved away from them, muttering almost nonsensical things to himself as he examined Phil's mechanical hand before he suddenly realized something and turned back to look at them. “Uh, kind of need you here, Phil,” Stark looked at them as if they did not hear him tell them to follow him.

“Oh, okay,” Coulson looked around for a place to set his glass down before Daisy took it from him and shook her head.

“Need me AC?” she asked as he hurried to catch up to Stark who continued to walk towards the elevators.

“I'll be good,” he replied Daisy could see that he was telling the truth.

“All righty then,” she muttered mostly under her breath before looking around and saw that Agent Barton was still examining the files Stark's A.I. had brought up for him.

With nothing better to do, she supposed that Barton would not mind her peeking over his shoulder at his research. She knew that while Coulson was telling her the truth that he would be fine with Stark and getting a new hand, it was his own way of giving her a bit of a break from the craziness of what had been happening in the last few months. Simmons was definitely missing and they had footage that the obelisk or whatever the stupid thing was that the _Iliad_ was carrying had literally swallowed her alive. Daisy did not want to think that she was dead, but at the same time, she knew that there was very little chance of Simmons actually being alive.

“So, Agent Barton, or Hawkeye, which do you prefer-” Daisy stopped as she saw the files that Barton had been reading. “What...the...” she trailed off as she saw that some of the files had images of her childhood friend Katie, or rather Kate Bishop, while others were of her older, some of her running and hiding in shadows, others of her from security cameras.

“My protege, Kate Bishop, went dark about forty-eight hours ago. Didn't report in for her weekly checkup with Hill. Protocol is twenty-four hours past in case an Agent is trapped behind enemy lines or is in a delicate situation. I got called in at the thirty-six mark to look for her since I know her the best,” Barton explained, crossing his arms across his chest and taking an absent sip of his scotch.

“...Yeah...Katie did mention something about being trained by you now that you mention it,” she looked at the photos and grainy footage, a little mesmerized at what she was seeing. Katie had not lied that she ran with a bad crowd after they both had been kicked out of the special school and ran away from St. Agnes.

“You know her?” Barton asked and Daisy glanced up to see his sharp eyes on her.

“I grew up with Katie at St. Agnes,” she explained, “Hill sent her as my contact a few weeks ago when I was looking for a person of interest in the area. She said that Katie worked New York and knew the area and politics and was my contact to find said person of interest.”

Barton made a noise of agreement, “Never one to pry into anyone's past, but I knew Kate had a bad history. Didn't know about anything prior to her joining the Circus of Crime, but makes sense.” He shifted his feet and took another absent sip of the scotch, “Hill had her on some assignment of sorts, not really sure about the details, but it was still in New York. Turns out that there was the potential of having a HYDRA nest somewhere in there.”

“Yeah,” Daisy nodded, “my person of interest kind of had a tracker in him and HYDRA was alerted to his location. They apparently came out of the sewers with assault rifles and the whole nine yards. She did say that she was going to keep her ear to the ground to see if there was anything else after that was over, so maybe her assignment was related to that?”

“Probably. I got FRIDAY here to check all possible leads and images to see if I can pinpoint her last location. Got her to cross reference and check to see if anyone from her past might have gotten wind of her here,” Barton finished the rest of his scotch and gripped the glass tightly in his hand, his fingers fiddling with it. It was a gesture unlike what Daisy remembered Kate doing with her own composite bow.

“She got a history of that?” Daisy was surprised.

“One of the things I promised her when I took her in,” there was a faint smile on Barton's lips as he stared at the images, “I don't let the past define who people are and just make sure that their past stays in their past.”

Daisy glanced at Barton before looking away, a sense of pride and warmth filling her. She was glad that Katie found someone to take care of her, much like Coulson had done with her. Judging by the images she was seeing and the reports that she had only glanced about Katie's past and with no prior knowledge as to who this Circus of Crime was, Katie deserved at least a second chance. She glanced at Barton again, “So, where was she last seen, or whatever she's supposed to do when she was supposed to report in?”

“Here, near DeWitt Clinton Park, 11th and 53rd,” he said, “communications and drop box if there was anything she needed to drop off like a thumb drive or evidence to continue the investigation. I caught a possible shot of her on the cameras of her a few blocks before that, but she never made it to the dropbox.”

“Obvious question, but since she's SHIELD, shouldn't she be, you know, hiding?” Daisy asked.

Barton smiled crookedly, “She's an independent information broker contracted to Stark Industries.”

“Oh yeah,” Daisy slapped her own forehead, “I forgot about that part. She did tell me that when we sat down with Matt and his friends for dinner-” She stopped as an idea crossed her head. “Wait, a minute...I know who we can get to help us if she is still in the area.”

“Come again?” Barton tore his gaze from the monitors and looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

“Listen, do you remember reading about the whole thing with Wilson Fisk and being taken down by some dude in a devil's mask named Daredevil, or rather the Devil of Hell's Kitchen?” she asked and Barton shrugged.

“Vaguely, we were kind of hunting HYDRA and Dr. List,” he said, “it was kind of local and Kate didn't report anything about it, so...”

“Never mind,” Daisy shook her head, “anyways, I know a few people who might be able to get in touch with Daredevil. He helped Katie and I back when we were looking for Lincoln, my person of interest. Got some kind of sonar hearing, something that's really great for finding people and also kicking all kinds of ass. If Katie is still around the area, he can help us look for her.”

“But Phil-”

“He said he was fine, I mean, this is Katie we're talking about. No way in hell am I leaving her with some dudes who might want to get back at her for whatever she did in the past,” she said and saw Barton slowly nod before looking at her with his sharp, serious eyes.

“Just so you know. I've tangled with these Circus of Crime people if they are the ones who have Katie. They're not easy,” he warned and she grinned.

“I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, Agent Barton. Remember, you said it yourself, May and Phil-trained.”

“Doesn't mean you're invincible,” he warned and she heard his tone tinged with recent regret. Something must have happened in Sokovia to make him worried about bringing her into the field.

“But it also doesn't mean I'm leaving a friend to the mercy of some jackass who decided it would be a great day to piss off an Avenger as well as SHIELD,” she pointed out and he reluctantly nodded.

“All right, I'll allow it, but I'm asking Phil first before I take you with me. The fact that you're only two years trained still makes you pretty green. When I give an order, you follow it, all right Agent Daisy Johnson?”

“Yes sir,” she nodded, a little more than giddy at the prospect of both getting to stretch her legs and work with an Avenger to boot. She just hoped that she would be able to find Daredevil with Matt, Foggy, and Karen's help before it was too late for Katie.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Thankfully the summer heat was dry instead of the August-humidity she had always hated and dreaded. Though it was near the end of July, it was about the time when August's almost-unbearable humidity would start to rear it's ugly head. August humidity basically turned each person into a dripping factory of sweat and smells that made it almost unbearable to ride a school bus to anywhere or even walk anywhere. Air conditioning could only do so much and even then, most of the air conditions were window units instead of central air, since it was a luxury. But Daisy made the most of it as she and Clint Barton walked down the streets of Hell's Kitchen towards the address that was listed for Nelson and Murdock, Attorneys at Law.

Agent Barton was dressed in a nondescript outfit, similar to what Katie wore the last time she had seen her. He carried a form-fitting backpack that Daisy thought more than likely doubled as his bow's carrying case and arrow pack. She, herself, was wearing her aerated combat gear under a slightly loose fitting light jacket that seemingly doubled as a short-sleeve wind breaker. She would have worn her arm guards except they would have been too obvious. She felt a little off to not be wearing her armguards, but they were supposed to be discreet, not outright drawing any sort of attention. Instead, she made do with a pair of padded fingerless gloves that looked a little like biker's gloves. They would not protect a lot of her forearm, but they at least gave her support on her wrists and knuckles in case she had to bash a few heads together.

Phil had given the okay to her side excursion and had even seemed a little amused by it when she had seen Barton ask him. Though she did catch the look her boss had shot her to be careful she had only nodded in reply before leaving with Barton. Stark had made a quip of sorts, but seemed more concentrated on Phil's hand than anything else, so Daisy supposed that he didn't really quite hear them enter or leave his workshop.

“Let's see, no, not this one...yeah, that one,” she hurried past the crosswalk and grinned to herself as she saw the street that Nelson and Murdock was supposed to be on and turned down it. Edging past several shady looking people hanging outside of the apartment complexes, she ignored their brief leering looks and shuffling of feet. They did not register as threats on her trained senses, more inclined to just leer and catcall any pretty person that wandered by their vicinity than to move in the dry heat.

It was getting late into the afternoon that Daisy still hoped Matt was at work, though she supposed lawyers worked all hours. She was not too optimistic since she remembered Foggy Nelson saying that they were a recently established law firm and so they were more than likely looking for new clients or plying their trade at the local precinct to see if anyone recently arrested needed their services.

“Ah ha! Found it!” she called out as she glanced back to see Barton catching up to her, having deigned to walk several paces behind to make it so that they were not technically 'together'.

Barton inclined his head in the universal gesture to head on in and she opened the rickety door, grimacing as it was a little sticky and stepped in. There was a makeshift arrow pointing up the stairs with the hand-written words of Nelson and Murdock on it. She proceeded to climb and found herself two floors above from the ground down a slightly decrepit looking hallway. Stopping for a second, she wondered if she had gotten the directions wrong before she saw the tiny flap of paper stuck on one of the doors and heard the muffled laugh of what sounded like Karen Page coming from the door. Looked like it was the right place, she thought as she approached and gingerly knocked on it.

“Come in,” Karen's voice called out from the other side and she opened it to see her sitting by her desk, looking over a few paperwork before glancing up. Recognition sparked in her eyes, “Oh, it's you...uh-I'm sorry, I can't remember-”

“Skye, or rather I'm going by Daisy Johnson now,” Daisy stepped with a smile on her face. Karen still looked a little haunted by something, but seemingly hid it well as she nodded.

“Skye, er, Daisy,” the blonde-haired woman stood up and rounded her desk, hand extended and Daisy shook it. “Great seeing you again. So, what brings you here?”

“Actually, you,” Daisy said before gesturing behind her, “my friend-” She saw the frown on Karen's face as she looked beyond her and turned to see that Agent Barton had not even come in. In fact, she thought she saw his shadow hanging just right outside the door, as if he did not want to come in. “Uh...hang on. Hey, you wanna come in here?”

“Looks like you've got it handled Johnson,” Barton called back and Daisy shrugged before turning back to Karen who had a dubious look on her face. She had to admit, it sounded _weird_ for Barton to be calling her by her new last name, but she supposed it was better than announcing that she was an Agent of SHIELD to Karen and the others.

“Hey, you're back...uh, Skye wasn't it?” Foggy's voice suddenly spoke up to her right and she turned to see him sticking his head out of his office, a smile and curious look on her face.

“Hey Foggy,” she greeted, “it's actually Daisy Johnson know. Found my real parents and found out what they were going to name me.”

“Oh,” Foggy's smile got wider, “Congrats! Hey, if you're looking for Matt, he's not here right now, said he had a late night looking over some case files, but he said he's going to meet us for a quick bite or something if you and _whomever is out there-_ ” Foggy called out in a loud voice, before turning back to her, “Wanna join us in a couple of hours?”

“Nah, it's okay, thanks though. I'm actually looking for Karen here,” she gestured to Karen before turning back to her, “sorry, I remember reading an article that said you had been rescued by the Devil's of Hell's Kitchen, right?”

“Yes?” Karen nodded hesitantly.

“Do you know any way of getting in contact with him?” she asked and saw her face scrunch up a little as she shook her head a negative.

“No, not really. I mean...he saved my life, so short of getting into massive trouble around Hell's Kitchen...uh...yeah...” Karen trailed off with a small shrug of defeat. “Sorry...”

“You need something with Daredevil?” Foggy stepped away from the doorway to his office and towards her.

“Yeah. I'm kind of on some hush-hush business that Katie talked to me about the last time I was here and she wants to see if there's any way of contacting Daredevil for his knowledge about Hell's Kitchen. Katie's gathering some info elsewhere, but since I'm the other person who grew up here that she knows besides Matt, she wants me to see if there's a way of adding Daredevil to her network of contacts,” Daisy thought fast and hoped that the story she had spun without really thinking of the details made sense. The nods of agreement from Karen and Foggy at least gave her some relief and she hoped she did Coulson's training proud.

“Lemme get in touch with Matt. We both got information about Fisk to help take down his criminal empire from Daredevil, so we've both met the guy, but I don't particularly remember if he left any way of contacting us after the whole thing. Kind of was intimidating and all. Matt probably had his head on straight more than I did during that whole thing. I just kind of yelled and accused him of being a terrorist before getting my facts straightened,” Foggy grinned and though it seemed genuine, Daisy could not figure out what was off about it – almost as if part of it was forced; as if Foggy was hiding something. She did not know what, but nonetheless nodded her assent.

Foggy quick dialed his cellphone, “Hey Matt, yeah, Skye, or rather Daisy as she's calling herself now, is here. She's looking for Daredevil-oh wait-uh-”

There was a polite, “Excuse me,” outside the door and Daisy turned to see Matt stepping in, his familiar white cane held in his hand as he grabbed the door knob, his cellphone still in his hand. Beyond him, she saw Barton still standing outside, though he seemed to be staring at Matt with his sharp eyes.

“Is that your friend out there?” Karen asked and Daisy nodded before she saw Foggy take a few steps forward.

“Hey, aren't you...” Foggy trailed off as he pointed at Barton who grimaced a little before stepping in after Matt.

“Yep,” Barton said and Foggy's eyes grew wide.

“Oh, my, God...it's Hawkeye...it's Hawkeye of the Avengers! Oh man...oh man, oh man, oh man,” Foggy gushed and Daisy wanted to laugh at the slightly long-suffering look Barton wore, but Karen's next words stopped her.

“Matt, what happened? Looks like you ran into something.”

Daisy glanced over to see that it did look like her childhood friend had indeed had an unfortunately run-in with something that left a bruise and cut on his lower lip. The side of his eye was a little purplish, but otherwise, he looked all right, though he seemed to be leaning on his cane a little heavier than she remembered.

“The garbage truck didn't put the bins down in the proper place like they usually do. Kind of ran into it and cut myself. I'm thinking new crew,” Matt shrugged and Daisy winced in sympathy.

“I'm sympathizing with you,” she said before walking the few steps towards him, “giving you a hug.”

He accepted her hug and to her surprise, patted her gently on her back before releasing her. It was something he rarely did, even when they were children, preferring to hold her tight for their occasional embraces. She hoped he did not feel the body armor she was wearing under her thin windbreaker.

“Oh man, Matt, this is _the_ Hawkeye-”

“Okay, okay,” Barton held up a hand to stop Foggy's gushing and Daisy could not help the small laugh that fell from her lips, “calm down. And no one calls me Hawkeye except the stuff in my SHIELD files. It's Clint Barton.”

“So, I thought we were just going to meet for dinner and go over the details or something Matt. You said you were chasing down a lead late last night...?” Foggy started.

“Lead didn't pan out,” Matt shook his head, “figured I come and see if there was anything else I can find from what we got.”

“New case?” Daisy asked and Matt nodded, staring at her behind his ruby-tinted glasses.

“St. Agnes Orphanage is facing some accusations that they are using child labor and children running away as a result. Naturally, we're defending them,” Matt explained and Daisy nodded.

“Well, I'm not really a good source for that, since you know what's happened, but I'm glad you're defending them,” she replied, “anyways, Foggy says that you might know how to get in contact with Daredevil?”

“Daredevil?” Matt looked surprised, almost choking on the word and Daisy found it a little puzzling.

She was a little reminded of the crimson-black-armored vigilante who had very similar mannerisms to Matt. But Matt couldn't be the masked vigilante that was either considered a terrorist by bombing the hell out of Hell's Kitchen, or the savior of the area by subduing and capturing Wilson Fisk. For one thing, Matt was blind and used his cane to help him get around, and Daredevil clearly had sharper senses that made it seem like he could use echolocation or something similar. No blind man could do that...could they?

“We need his help finding someone,” she said before quickly adding, “and also Katie wants to add him to her network of contacts in the area since he knows the lay of the land. She's currently gathering some info, somewhere...” She could feel Barton's gaze on her and knew that she had messed up her initial story and now it sounded even false to her own ears. She hastily cleared her throat, “Anyways, we figured that the person is in Hell's Kitchen and since Daredevil seemingly knows the ins and outs of the area, maybe he can help us.”

“This anything to do with the Avengers?” Matt asked, glancing back towards the general direction that Barton was standing at.

“I have a personal stake in this. No Avengers,” Barton replied and Daisy thought it was an odd response at the same time she could see that Clint was still staring at Matt with his sharp eyes; almost as if he was evaluating him.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Foggy frown a little and look at Matt in concern before Matt gave a small nod.

“Let me see what I can do. You guys going to be around the area?”

“Yeah, is there any specific place we need to meet him?” Daisy asked and saw her friend shake his head a negative.

“I'm pretty sure he can find you easily,” he replied the corner of his lips twitching up in a slight mysterious smile.

“All right, well, you've got my number if you want to give it to him. Don't know how he's going to find us in such a big grid, but if you say so, you say so,” she conceded as she started to walk to the door, “thanks for the offer of dinner Foggy, but we're going to have to get a rain check on it, all right?”

“I'll hold you to that the next time you're in town. I still want more dirt on Matt's childhood,” Foggy called out as she waved a goodbye to Karen.

“Foggy-”

“Matt, come on, live a little!” she teased him as she heard his familiar exasperated tone start up in an effort to dissuade Foggy from saying anything else. “And thanks! I'll give you a call later on the search.”

With that, she closed the door behind her and headed down the stairs, Barton following behind her.

“Story needs a little refining,” he commented as they exited the building and she sighed.

“Yeah. Kind of need to work on that,” she agreed, “bullshitting isn't one of my strong suits when it comes to making up shit. I kind of ferret out the truth for the most part and tell people that instead. Kind of gave myself a rep of being bossy and blunt for the most part.”

“I can probably ask Nat to teach you that aspect if you're willing to learn,” he offered and she shrugged.

“It would be nice, but Coulson's got me out on a recruitment mission for a while,” she said before gesturing with a hand towards the buildings around them, “this was supposed to be a quick break before I head out with my partner and give the recruiting spiel to people we're interested in.”

“Interested in...?”

“Uh-uh,” she glanced at him as he stood next to her, the two of them absently watching the pedestrian and automotive traffic flow around them, “not going to get that info from me, Agent Barton. You can ask Coulson yourself.”

Barton snorted quietly as he crossed his arms across his chest. His fingers tapped out a random pattern on a bicep that Daisy recognized as if Barton was fiddling with his bow. “So, this Daredevil really has sonar hearing or echolocation? Some kind of gifted individual you ran into with Kate?” he asked.

“I don't know if he's gifted, but he definitely knows a few things you or I can't pick up on,” Daisy admitted as she glanced at him, asking the silent question of where he wanted to go now. He gestured vaguely towards the direction of the West Side Highway and she immediately understood that he wanted to check the dropbox and Katie's contact point.

“Such as?”

“Well,” she wrinkled her brow a little, “he claims he heard my heartbeat and followed us across the streets on the rooftops. Plus, we got into a little bit of trouble and he was able to help out. Kicked all sorts of ass and I swear to God, I'm not joking, looked like he was easily dodging bullets; like he knew the trajectory even as it was being fired.

“He also was able to pick out a tracker that was planted deep into in Lincoln's body and point me in the direction of extracting it,” she shook her head in wonderment, “and get this, I think whatever mask he's got on to cover his identity, those eye holes, they're opaque, so I think he actually can _hear_ things a lot better than he lets on.”

“Are you sure they're opaque?” Barton asked, “and you got field medic training to get a tracker out?”

“Oh, uh,” Daisy blinked and turned her head away a little as she realized that Barton did not know she was an Inhuman, nor that she had powers. “Got a crash course from Simmons, when uh, I needed it out in the field a few months ago. But anyways, yeah...” It was not that she didn't want to tell the Avenger that she was someone who had powers, considered a gifted, it was that he was an _Avenger_. She knew that the Avengers had all sorts of people with powers, the Hulk, Thor, and even Captain America himself could be considered enhanced, she didn't know what would happen to her. Coulson knew and accepted her without any question or reservations and she didn't want the potential of leaving him in the lurch if someone else found out that she had powers. She had read some of the forums about the hatred spewed on the internet regarding those with powers. And the recent events in Sokovia did no favors to those who were gifted or enhanced.

“The opacity of eyeholes in a mask, kind of hard to tell on the receiving end. Trust me, that's experience,” Barton continued as if he easily accepted her explanation, but Daisy could feel his sharp eyes on her and inwardly cringed. She was definitely considering taking up Barton's offer to ask Natasha Romanov for bullshitting lessons. She could even feel Coulson's mental disapproving look on her for her 0-2 attempts at spinning a lie.

“Yeah well, I mean every time he seemed to tilt his head...” she trailed off for a moment as she realized _why_ the gesture looked familiar the times she had seen Daredevil do it. It looked _exactly_ like how Matt occasionally listened to her or was listening to something in the distance before interrupting her from time to time. She had forgotten about it until she and Katie had sat down to eat with him, Karen, and Foggy that night. She had thought nothing of it until she had met Daredevil later that night and it had niggled a sense of familiarity in her that she could not place until now.

“You were saying?” Barton interrupted her musings and she shot him a hesitant grin as they crossed the street.

“He seems to be listening more with his ears than actually looking-looking with his eyes,” she finished, her suspicions growing about Matt and Daredevil. His words to her when she had woken up on Night Nurse's couch also lent some weight to her hypothesis that Matt was Daredevil. He claimed to have known someone who was bossy and ran head first into trouble and that she had reminded him of her. That could have easily been anyone, but Matt had almost said similar words when they had ran into each other at the St. Agnes fundraiser earlier that day.

“So he'll probably find us then,” Barton finished and she glanced at him to see him staring out across at the small park that Katie was supposed to report into. She did not catch onto the fact that he had been looking at her with a half-smile that spoke of someone who had already put together the pieces, but was waiting for her to put everything together.

“...Yeah...” Daisy replied before she shook her head and squared her shoulders, pushing all thoughts of her theory about Matt and Daredevil to the side for now, “should we take a look while we wait?”

“Can't hurt,” Barton replied before they crossed the streets and entered the park. Daisy immediately saw him change the gait of his walk to a more languid predatory one. His head moved back and forth in a casual, but alerted manner, as she too adopted the same stance and look. Katie never made it to her dropbox and Daisy hoped that the park would at least provide a clue to her friend's whereabouts.

 


	3. Chapter 3

True to Matt's prediction, Daredevil found them quite easily. But then again, they had been walking from an open park so Daisy thought that she and Barton were somewhat visible. The only thing that was not as visible, was the fact that she was sure the two of them looked like any ordinary New Yorker walking the streets in the dusky orange-red rays of the setting sun. She was alerted to Daredevil's presence when Barton stared up at the rooftops, eyes narrowed before gesturing with a chin for them to duck into the nearest alleyway.

Daisy used a nearby garbage bin as leverage to grab the bottom rung of the emergency ladder and pulled it down enough for her to begin climbing. She heard Barton clamber up after her and they soon arrived on the rooftop. Shielding her eyes from the setting sun, she glanced around for any sign of Daredevil, and spotted him standing casually near an rooftop vent. His hands were held loosely by his side, but Daisy caught sight of his familiar billy clubs in its holster on his leg. She noted that there was seemingly minor patches and tears of sorts on his outfit. With the setting sun in her eyes, she could barely make out his face, but she did catch the glints of his red-demonic-like eyes on his cowl. There was something else that she thought she saw on his face, but she was not sure since she was squinting against the sun. Behind her, she heard a small whipping-like sound and glanced back to see Barton holding his composite bow, but did not notch an arrow.

“We need your help,” Daisy started and saw the red-clad man nod once. “My friend Katie, who was with me the first time we met, is missing. We think she might still be in the area and I thought that maybe you can help us.”

“I can't track her heartbeat if that's what you're asking, not like yours,” Daredevil replied and Daisy's expression fell.

She swore under her breath as that was what she had hoped Daredevil would be able to do, but if he said he couldn't then she was out of options.

“It was the first thing I tried to do when she went missing,” the red-clad man continued and she looked at him, surprised. However, he turned his red-eyed stare towards Barton, “But you knew that already, didn't you, Agent Barton? You wanted to know if I sold her out to the individuals who kidnapped her. It's why you agreed to Agent Johnson meeting me. I didn't sell her out.”

“It's not a coincidence that Kate was working the same case that your lawyer friends Nelson and Murdock are working on. She brought it to their attention and I think it also has something to do with you,” Barton's gaze was sharp and steady as his fingers danced across the guard of the bow, “Maria Hill said that Kate's final report before she went missing was that she was working with a source on the case. You're the source.”

“I did some investigation into the possibility of a HYDRA nest somewhere in Hell's Kitchen judging by their response to Lincoln's presence,” Daredevil looked at them with his red-tinged mask, his words almost without any emotion in them. “The results were, not that pleasant.”

Daisy blinked and stared at the patches on Daredevil's uniform. She realized that they were either knife scores or even bullet holes. He had clearly gotten into a firefight or even a fist fight with live fire when he poked the proverbial hornets nest that was HYDRA camping out in Hell's Kitchen. “You called Katie and Katie continued the investigation,” she murmured and saw him nod once, “then she went missing-”

“I asked around,” Daredevil shrugged and Daisy frowned a little at the stiffness of his movements. He was still somewhat injured, she realized and with the sun nearly out of her eyes, dipping behind the Jersey City skyline she could see that he was sporting a cut on his lower lip that looked a little bruised. Wait a minute...she had seen almost, no, she had seen the _exact_ same cut and bruise just a couple of hours ago; on a blind man who _claimed_ to have run into the garbage can.

But before she could even say his name, Barton beat her to the punch, “It wasn't a new garbage crew, was it?”

There was a brief moment of hesitation in Daredevil's expression before the eerily familiar crooked smile worked its way up his face and he tilted his head in an oblique acknowledgment, “Didn't get the answers I wanted.”

Daisy realized that Barton had figured out what she had just figured out and had lowered his bow a little bit. She was still inwardly reeling from the fact that Daredevil had all but acknowledge that he was Matt Murdock. Or rather, her childhood best friend Matt Murdock had _grown up_ to be the vigilante the newspapers were calling the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. That this red-black-armored clad man in front of him was Matt Murdock _and_ Daredevil. Matt Murdock was Daredevil.

The heavy hand that landed on her shoulder and gripped it tight pulled her out of her whirling thoughts and she saw Barton staring at her, a concerned look on his face. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” Daisy replied shakily before she tried to pull herself together and gave him a sheepish smile, “not every day I find out one of my friends is, uh, you know...um, him?” She glanced over to Daredevil who had a neutral expression on his face before she realized something. “I...you probably can...see, right? I mean, not like see-see, but that hearing thing you got going on-”

Daredevil nodded, “Yes.”

“Damn,” she swore in appreciation, “echolocation for the win.” She had so many questions she wanted to pepper him with, but realized that she needed to at least maintain somewhat of a professional demeanor, especially with Barton being an Avenger and even a veteran SHIELD agent. She could already imagine if May was here, she would be rolling her eyes. Even Coulson would have been smiling that smile he always had when he was exasperated with something she had done or something one of his other agents had done or embarrassed themselves with.

“Okay,” she squared her shoulders as Barton released it, taking a step back, “so Katie know?”

“No,” Matt, or rather Daredevil – she did not know if she could still believe that Matt was Daredevil – said. It certainly explained the firm planes of muscle she had felt when she had first hug him since their childhood, and it definitely explained a few more things about the various articles she had read regarding Daredevil and how Nelson and Murdock factored into it.

“Okay, what can we do to find her?” she asked, glancing back and forth between Barton and Matt.

“I've pieced together a rough timeline of her actions prior to her abduction,” Barton crossed his arms across his chest, absently fiddling with the guard of his bow, “was there a specific locale that the two of you were searching around?”

“St. Agnes and in and around the Lincoln Tunnel area. I figured if they were kidnapping children from the Orphanage, they would try to transport them out,” Daredevil replied.

“Good call, but I think Kate might have discovered something while you were recovering. I managed to track her with traffic cams to her last location before she was supposed to report to her dropbox. The exterior of Terminal 5 is the last where I saw her and Piers 2 and 4 are usually event venues around the park,” Barton said and Daisy nodded.

“Makes sense,” she commented, “the more people there are, the easier it is to hide kids or other things in there.” She turned to Matt, “Why is St. Agnes being targeted? Aren't any others missing kids?”

“No,” her friend replied, “the only connection we were able to find was that the accusation of child labor came from the fact that only the children who are recent arrivals have gone missing at irregular intervals and never returned. None of the sisters there know anything about it.”

“Where are these children coming from?”

“Most of them are overseas from a refugee transport out of the Nepalese mountains, but they're not all Nepalese, why?” Matt replied and Daisy immediately felt the pit of her stomach drop in dread.

“Shit...” she shook her head and saw the two men staring at her, concern on their faces, “I think I know where they're coming from.” She licked her lips and swallowed, “There's a compound out there that was supposedly recently attacked by Robert Gonzalez's splinter SHIELD group.”

“Gonzalez is alive?”

“Was,” she shook her head at Barton's question, “the compound's leader killed him and called it a SHIELD attack. We defended ourselves, but the leader took matters into her own hands and attacked the _Iliad_ afterwards.” She sighed, “A lot of people died and I think the children there were probably shipped to different orphanages, some of them coming to St. Agnes and the surrounding orphanages. But you're saying that none of the other orphanages in the area have been reporting missing children, right?”

“As far as we know and called. It's only been a few weeks,” Daredevil cautioned and Daisy nodded.

“Yeah, paperwork and the like,” she grumbled. She knew from past experience that sometimes the orphanage took its time reporting a runaway child if only because of the interference of the local authorities and the automatic investigation that usually proceeded. “Hey, how long did we make it?”

“Two months,” was the reply and Daisy gave him a thin smile. It took two months for St. Agnes to report her and Katie's disappearance after they had run away in the aftermath of being kicked out of the special school. She supposed it was a saving grace since it gave her enough time to disappear completely off the grid and start her life over.

“Great,” she replied sarcastically, “just great.” She stared out at the park, “We could have a bunch of kids from all sorts of orphanages all around and not just from St. Agnes. And HYDRA really wants them.”

“Seems like you know the reason why,” Barton commented and she glanced at him before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“They're gifted individuals, sir,” she replied, “though their gifts are actually dormant until activated-” She stopped as she realized there was a way for Matt to try to locate the missing children and also more than likely Katie if it was HYDRA who had snatched her too. “Matt, er, uh-”

“Matt's fine,” Daredevil gave her a crooked smile and she could definitely see that it was the same smile Matt had always given to her, the same half-smile that she liked and thought of as _her_ smile, until Katie had begun to date Matt, then she did not know what the smile was. But now, it seemed like it was hers again.

“You said my heart was deeper, right? Can you pick up on any heartbeats like mine?”

“A child's heartbeat is usually light and fluttery, different than an adult's,” he said and she nodded.

“Okay, but if they do end up ingesting fish oil, then their heartbeats would definitely change into something like mine, I think,” she said and saw both men stare at her, puzzlement in their expressions.

“Fish oil?” Barton asked eyeing her dubiously.

“The leader of the compound decided the best way to kill those who weren't like her kind was to expose them to something called a Terrigen crystal. It kind of turns regular people into stone if they come in contact with it. She was going to use the air filtration system on the _Iliad_ as her vector except the containers fell into the sea. Coulson's been working with the others in trying to contain the outbreak, but we've narrowed it down to fish oil pills.”

“Well that's some comfort,” Barton looked a little pale in the waning sunset and Daisy could only give him a bracing smile of reassurance. “So, besides turning those not like her into stone, what does the Terrigen crystal exactly do? Just change heartbeats?”

Daisy hesitated, wondering if she should tell Barton if she was a gifted individual. She knew that he had worked with at least two during the whole Sokovia thing. He had also worked with the Hulk and Thor who were definitely not quite human, if anything Thor was definitely an alien Prince. Even Cap was considered not human, but rather superhuman. It stood to reason that he would accept her as an individual with non-human abilities. But she also knew that working with people was far more different than accepting them. Jemma Simmons was one such example as well as her own supervising officer Melinda May being another. Even Katie had stared at her with something akin to horror when she realized that she had powers. She did not know if her former friend had truly accepted that she was not human and had abilities that could easily kill those around her.

“We get gif-er, we get powers,” she realized she had almost said the word 'gifts', like her mother had said before her true colors were revealed and swallowed against the word. “We're what SHIELD calls Gifted individuals, or enhanced...supposed to be on the Index,” she finished quietly. This was the first time she had revealed the fact that she had powers to someone who knew and probably had listed a few people on the Index for SHIELD. Coulson had promised to keep her off of the new Index he was compiling, but she wondered what Agent Barton thought of her and whether or not she was registered on the Index itself.

“We're...” she dared not look at him or even at Daredevil and stared at the ground, “we're called Inhumans.” Though Matt had saved her life – a part of her still reeled with the fact that Matt had been the one to kick HYDRA's ass six ways to Sunday and also cradle her in his arms after Lincoln had electrocuted her and left – she didn't really know how he felt about the fact that she wasn't the same Daisy, or rather, the same Skye he had grown up with. Sure, he had come and visited her when she was recovering in Night Nurse's apartment, but he had only checked on her before leaving.

“And a deeper heartbeat is one of the side effects, right?” Barton asked and she looked up to see him with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“...Yes...” she answered and he nodded before glancing at Daredevil.

“Think you can do it?”

“Doesn't hurt to try,” Matt replied and Daisy glanced back and forth between the two of them before she realized that far from actually condemning her, they had taken her explanation in stride and without even a single word had accepted it by focusing more on the problem than her confession. She felt a little flutter of gratefulness in her heart as she watched Barton head towards the edge of the rooftop towards the direction of the park. Matt shot her a quick look and she saw the same half-smile that she had come to relish on his face before he joined him. She realized that he must have heard the flutter of relief in her heart.

She turned and watched as Matt canted his head like the many times she had seen him do in childhood and even in the brief time she had seen him as an adult. Now, she understood that he was listening, paying attention with such an extreme ear for detail that she had not realized was so sensitive. It certainly explained all those times he had screamed before Stick had come, why he was able to pick up on certain things that could not and it certainly explained why he was in pain from time to time when the sensitivity of his hearing and all of his other senses seemed to overwhelm him. Matt must have disciplined himself to the point where he needed to concentrate and control his own sensitivities lest be overwhelmed by the world around him.

After a few minutes, Matt suddenly drew a sharp deep breath and seemingly shook himself out of a trance. “It's hard, but I thought I was able to pick out several faint flutters of children's hearts at Terminal 5, but I can't tell. There's a concert going on over there and the vibrations of the music and people make it almost impossible to differentiate.”

“Piers 2 and 4?”

“Nothing,” Matt shook his head.

“I've got an idea,” Daisy said and saw the two turn to look back at her, “I think I can minimize the vibrations of the music and the people for you to figure out if Katie is there. But, I kind of have to be near the building in order to do that.”

“You can do that?” Barton asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I was taught that each individual thing in the world has a vibration of sorts. All I have to do is find the frequency for it and be able to control it,” she replied., hoping she sounded a lot more sure than she felt. She knew that she just had to find the frequency in which the building and music vibrated at and use her powers to neutralize it instead of bringing the building down on people.

“All right, let's go then,” Barton took charge and Daisy nodded as they followed him off of the rooftop with a zipline shot towards one of the sturdier trees in the park.

They landed and headed the short block away to where Terminal 5 venue hall was. Daisy was familiar with the place as a young-crowd hangout. It had also been one of the few places in Hell's Kitchen that had served as a place of refuge for those who had been evacuated from the main battleground of the Chitauri invasion. If HYDRA had decided to use this as their base of operations, it certainly explained how they were able to go undetected from SHIELD and the Avengers' manhunt for any remaining HYDRA forces. No one would think to search underneath a complex that was used on a day-to-day basis for concerts and other spectacles like MMA or wrestling.

They arrived in short order, sticking to the shadows to avoid the dinner rush of crowds or people already lining up on the outside of the Terminal 5, eager to get into the venue. Ducking around the back, Barton nodded for her to do what she needed to do as he drew his bow and notched an arrow, acting as a lookout for anyone who was curious as to what two body-armored and one masked vigilante were doing here.

Daisy let out a quick breath and raised her hand as she touched the wall, already feeling the faint hum and vibration of the building itself. It felt like tickles breathing down the back of her neck, and she wanted to scratch at it like a phantom itch of sorts. But she ignored it and focused, taking the training Jiaying had instilled in her to neutralize the vibrations of the building. Closing her eyes, she focused. The tickle on the back of her neck escalated as she sought out the neutral point, trying not to push too hard on her powers and not force a collapse of the building. She was aware of the pulsating vibrations of Matt near her and it felt steady and calm, much like when she had overexerted herself in vibrating the battery out of Lincoln's tracker. Beyond him, she felt the solidity and seemingly efficiently relaxed manner that was more than likely Agent Barton. If anything, to her Barton's vibrations felt like a sturdy mainstay, someone who was constant, contrast to the explosive vibration she could feel in the back of her teeth that was Matt just barely hidden underneath the steady and calm facade.

“They're scrambling, the acoustics of the room have changed, so they've stopped their practice,” she could hear Matt as if he was far away from her and smiled a little to herself as she knew she had gotten the frequency right. She felt the air vibrating just a little bit around him as she kept her eyes closed, and knew that Matt had canted his head to hone his own sensitized hearing. A few seconds later, he spoke up again, “I hear them. There are definitely children further below, hidden, some have deeper heartbeats, but they're unused to it. They're scared. There are the steady heartbeats of adults there, I don't know if Katie is there.”

“She might be,” Barton's voice was tinged with the angry vibrations of frustration and protectiveness as Daisy opened her eyes and pulled her hand away from the wall. She caught Matt's wince out of the corner of her eyes and realized that letting the building vibrate again had thrown his sensitive hearing a loop.

“Sorry,” she grimaced in apology and he only shook his head before gesturing with his chin towards Barton.

“You found something?”

“Arrow, blood covered. Shaft's broken, but I recognize Kate's arrows anywhere,” he showed them the blood-covered metal-arrowhead and broken shaft. “She probably found them here and they found her.” He dropped the arrow and stood up, his lips in a thin line as he looked up and around them.

“What's the play?” Daisy asked, waiting for his orders.

“Terminal 5 has an underground entrance that leads to the runoff lines for subways and the old terminals that were used for shipping a long time ago,” Daredevil spoke up and Barton nodded.

“Johnson, you and Daredevil take the underground route. I'll head in from ground entrance and get the place evacuated before making my way down,” Barton said, “Disable any resistance and if you find Kate, get her out of here.”

“The children?”

“Depending on how many, get them out. I'll put in a call to Coulson, he knows how to be discreet about it,” Barton looked at her, his sharp eyes serious, “I get the feeling the world doesn't know about these...Inhumans yet, right?”

“I didn't know about them until a few months ago,” Daisy admitted and Barton snorted quietly.

“We'll keep it that way. Stark's not quite feeling the whole people with superpowers thing right now, not after what happened in Sokovia,” he nodded and Daisy smiled a little at his discretion.

“Thank you,” she said and he shook his head.

“Don't thank me yet. I'm gonna have a talk with Kate after this about calling for backup when she discovers a HYDRA nest instead of doing it solo,” Barton replied before flicking his composite bow back together with a quiet whipping sound and sticking it into his form-fitting backpack. Daisy watched as he rounded the corner and disappeared from her view before glancing at Matt, a small smile on her face.

“Playground bullies?” she asked and to her surprise, he barked out a quiet huff of laughter.

“Playground bullies,” he agreed before the two of them headed towards the entrance that would lead them under the concert venue.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“So,” Daisy started as they half-crawled, half-walked through the narrow tunnel that was to lead them underneath Terminal 5, “lawyer by day, vigilante by night? How does that work?”

“With a lot of effort,” Matt replied, his voice muffled by the narrow proximity of himself leading the way with her following behind. “And little to no sleep.”

“Ah, yeah, sleep's a priority,” she joked, blinking her eyes hard in an effort to try to see out of the murky darkness. The only thing she was sure of was that she could feel the faint pulsing vibration of the hallway that told her how close she was to Matt and that was it. She made sure that she did not accidentally run into him, but she certainly was not about to complain about the view she was getting of his sculpted back, legs, and posterior. It was not that she had a crush on her best friend, but neither was she blind to the fact that Matt was really well-built and good-looking with his rakish-charm and – she knew it was the most awful pun her head came up with – devil-may-care attitude when he was dressed as Daredevil. No wonder the people of Hell's Kitchen called him Daredevil. Fearless in a fight, menacing with the cowl over his head, yet still ruggedly handsome as one would have expected of a vigilante who saved people and scared the bad guys.

“So, costume, outfit, uniform, you got there,” she prompted him.

“Took the advice of a few friends that I needed to take care of myself,” he replied and she grinned.

“Good on them for making sure you protect yourself,” she replied, “though I guess since you're blind, you might have went overboard on the red color though.”

“Hides the blood,” he shot back and she sighed.

“Judging you,” she said and she felt the faintest vibration in the air that told her he was shaking his head. Whether it was from exasperation or from something else, she couldn't tell.

“Most of it can stop a knife at certain angles, the black parts can stop a bullet,” he explained and she frowned.

“Matt, if people are shooting-”

“Skye, er, Daisy, pot calling kettle,” he warned and she fell silent, biting her lip.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she finally replied after a few seconds of silence before a thought occurred to her, “hey, uh, did you mean what you said, uh...when I was kind of out of it on uh, Night Nurse's apartment?”

“Night Nurse? Is that what she called herself?” Matt sounded amused and Daisy grinned, even though she knew her friend could not see it.

“I sense history there, Murdock,” she teased.

“Didn't work out,” he replied and she groaned.

“It never works out with you, at least from what I know,” she sighed, “but anyways, you dodged the question. So...you mean what you said?”

He was quiet for a few minutes and she could feel nothing with the faint vibrations in the air to indicate what he was thinking or doing. She was about to ask again when his body shifted and she lifted her hand from the wall, squinting at the sudden brightness of the light that shone in her face. She shuffled forward and emerged into what looked like the remnants of a failed subway construction line. The faint ringing sounds of screeching metal-on-metal told her that the subways were running in the distance.

“Stairs, left,” she added as an afterthought before she looked at her friend, “can you see them, you know, with your abilities?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” he replied as the two of them headed towards the stairs and climbed it. They reached the top where a door stood.

Daisy frowned as she reached out and found the door locked. She twisted it a few times, but it would not come loose. “Hmm...” she murmured mostly to herself before she got an idea and placed her palm flat on the handle itself. The knob started to shake a little before it rattled apart and the ends fell to the ground with a hollow thunk. She pushed the door opened and cautiously stepped in, Daredevil following behind her.

“Hold on,” he suddenly murmured and she felt his hand on her arm, “there's at least...twenty of them. All armed. At least five walking above us on catwalks, the rest on the ground. There's a cage, children trapped in them, they're definitely scared. Some are crying.”

“The ones with deeper heartbeats?” she asked and Matt shook his head a little.

“I think one more level below us, they're not on this level,” he said, “I can hear several deep ones, though one seems a bit slower than the rest.”

“Slower?” she asked and he shook his head again.

“Can't quite make it out, the noise level isn't-” he paused before she saw the corner of his lips twitch up in a faint smile, “Agent Barton's making his way down. I can hear him take out several of the guards from the top level.”

“We better get busy then too,” she grinned, cracking her knuckles in anticipation.

“The five guards up top form a perimeter, the ones at the bottom are circling the cage holding the children. There are two guards who are watching the exits that lead to the entrance we just came in,” he said and she nodded and was about to head off to launch a surprise attack when he tightened his grip on her arm, making her pause.

“Matt?” she looked at him and saw the blood-red lenses of his cowl staring back down at her.

“Skye...Daisy,” Matt's voice was surprisingly gentle, but she caught the urgent caution in his tone, “be careful.”

The corner of her lips tugged up in response as she nodded. Matt had meant the words he said while she had been recuperating on Night Nurse's couch. It warmed her that he thought of her in that sense and was still concerned for her well-being after so many years apart. “I will,” she replied.

She drew out her ICER and flicked the safety off before heading out of the alcove that had given her and Daredevil cover from the guards watching the entrance. The flash of red out of the corner of her eye told her that Matt had gone the opposite way to deal with the other guard. She cleared the corner and immediately fired a single bullet, downing the guard just as there was a meaty grunting sound and the other guard dropped to the ground by the silvery flash of Daredevil's baton.

Daisy immediately pointed her gun upwards and fired twice, downing two of the guards before launching herself at the one she had been approaching at ground level. She heard the others panic and ducked as several bullets pinged near her, but they were suddenly re-directed in their fire as Daredevil acrobatically flipped into the scene and punched another in the head before leaping off of the guard and rolling to face two more. Daisy kicked the guard in the back, sending him to the ground with a push of her powers to knock him out before sliding across the floor, her gun pointed upwards and fired twice, bringing down the third of the guards that had been walking across the catwalk. She managed to finish her slide behind a concrete pillar as the area around her was peppered with bullets from the remaining two guards above as she ducked behind it.

However, she did not get a chance to catch her breath as she immediately dodged a punch flying towards her face and caught the arm that was holding a gun that fired. She grimaced in pain at the loudness of the discharge next to her ears, but she kicked the man in the chin, snapping his head backwards as the toe of her boot broke his nose and twisted into the man's chest, slamming her elbow into his stomach, folding him in half before knocking him unconscious with a burst of her powers into the back of his head.

She turned and raised both of her hands, blasting the area where the two guards were trying to track her and saw the catwalk rattle and shake, along with parts of the ceiling as they were knocked back and saw them slid to the floor, knocked out. Task done, she saw Daredevil slowly making his way through the remaining guards, a fearless smile on his face as he ducked, twisted, and flipped over the bullets they were sending his way. However, with her trained eye, she knew that he was definitely still hurting from whatever injuries he had recently sustained and so stepped out of the safety of the concrete pillar and held her hands out.

“Duck!” she shouted and saw Daredevil shoot her a quick look, more than likely sensing what she was about to do, before he flattened himself on the ground. She blasted the guards with her powers and they went flying into the walls. Some slammed into them with some force, heads snapping to the side while others managed to hit nearby pillars and equipment, rolling to the ground as they slowly recovered.

“One's getting away! Get him, I got this,” Daredevil shouted and Daisy saw that indeed one had managed to avoid her blast and was running towards what looked like an exit sign. As the guard slammed the door open in his bid to escape, she heard the muffled metallic roar of something from the stairwell, but did not pay much attention to it as she gave chase to the escaping guard.

She slammed her body against the door and pushed it open, her momentum hurling her down the first flight of emergency stairs before she rolled and recovered, chasing after the lone guard. She considered jumping down the open shaft in the middle, but she could not see where the stairs ended and wondered how deep it went when suddenly she heard the guard at least a floor below her open a door. She hurried the last few flights just in time to see the door close before she heard the sound of another door opening several flights above her.

“Daredevil! Down here!” she called out, knowing that Matt would be able to pinpoint what floor she was on before she pulled the door open and pushed through.

The sight that greeted her was absolute blackness. Not darkness, but absolute blackness with no indication of a light source. It was as if she had suddenly went blind and Daisy froze, skidding to a stop as she looked around her.

“Hello?!” she shouted, hoping to use her own voice and echoing vibrations around her to at least source something, but there was nothing.

It was then that she noticed it. That it was not exactly blackness that she had suddenly found herself surrounded in. But rather, the shadows that created the blackness writhed and undulated as if...they were living things.

The shadows were _alive_.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Daisy stared in mute horror at the sight of the undulating writhing...shadowy things that surrounded her no matter which way she turned. What the hell did she walk into? There was clearly no sign of the lone guard that she had been chasing after even though she was pretty sure that he had run into the same place she was in now. She considered going back to the stairwell to check, but when she turned in the direction she thought she had come from, there was nothing but black twisting and snapping masses that seemingly was alive. She was not going to say it was nightmarish, but she did not put it past it that this was the stuff of nightmares.

“Hello?!” she tried, but for some odd reason, she could not even hear her own voice, even though she felt her vocal chords vibrate and more than likely had spoken the words. “Hello?!” she shouted again, but there was not even a single sound and she could feel a slight panic starting to rise in her throat. “Hello?! Hello!” Daisy took a deep breath, “HEL-LO!”

On the last syllable, she was suddenly able to hear and stumbled a little at the onslaught and cacophony of sounds that blasted through her ears. A significant amount of the sounds sounded like things banging around, along with muffled shouts and screams. But through the haze and rush of it, she was able to pinpoint two things. One, the shadows were still there, and two, someone was really shouting her name, though it was muffled.

“-aisy! Daisy!” the muffled shout was feminine and punctuated by sounds of pounding.

“Katie?!” Daisy tried to turn towards the source of the sound, but all she saw were just writhing shadows around her. “Katie! Where are you?! Keep shouting, I'll come find you-”

“No!” she thought she heard Katie's muffled shout, “Daisy, get out! It's a trap-”

“Of course it is,” a new voice spoke up, loud, clear, and most of all very near Daisy before she instinctively lashed out with an arm, but hit nothing. She thought she felt the breeze of someone dodging her blow, but wasn't too sure.

“It is a trap, though you were not the intended target,” the same voice spoke again, this time to her right and she lashed out again, adding a bit of her abilities, but only heard the sound of something being knocked over and a couple of grunts.

“Where are you?!” Daisy was getting frustrated as she whirled around, but the living shadows still filled her vision. It was as if they were deliberate and had been placed there to literally blind her from seeing anything- Her thoughts screeched to a painful halt as she balled her fists and glared at nothing in particular. It was a trap...and she suspected that these living shadow things that encompassed her sight was part of it.

“Ah...she gets it,” the same voice spoke up, to her left, but Daisy only shifted her body to the left instead of reacting like she had the last two times. If her vision was truly compromised, she needed to be very careful – she was running blind at the moment.

“Well,” the voice affected a pleasant tone, as if it was not bothered by what had happened, but Daisy could not tell if it was male or female. “No matter, you'll do for now until the real entertainment comes in about...now.”

At the same time, Daisy heard something that sounded like the door opening two heavy footsteps that had to be Matt, before they inexplicably quieted. Daisy dared not say anything, wondering what Matt _saw_ with his senses to what she supposed was her standing somewhere looking lost. So far, there had been no attack or any vibration of a presence other than the voice that had spoken to her. She thought she heard the squeak of something grinding, almost like leather on padded leather.

“So glad you can join us, as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen,” the voice said grandly behind her, at least that was what she thought it was and she turned, tentatively reaching out with a fist, but feeling nothing but air. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

“What did you do to her,” Matt's voice was cold and hard, unlike anything Daisy had heard before.

“Oh, nothing in particular. She just has a slight problem with her vision, seeing nothing but shadows, that's all,” the voice still sounded pleasant, as if it was talking about the weather and Daisy lunged forward, only to feel the faint vibration of cloth flitting away. She had been so close and heard the voice make a tsking sound. “Now, now, Daisy was it? Yes, well, Daisy, you really do not want to be doing that, and I'd probably not use your...Inhuman powers, right? Earthquake-based...yes, your friend Lincoln over there told me a lot. He told me a lot about the Inhumans, a little about your powers, all just to try to make me stop.”

“You sick son of a bitch-” Daisy was furious at what the voice was saying and lifted her hand to fire off her powers in a blind circle when Daredevil's voice stopped her.

“No! There are children around here, ones who've changed. They're chained up and locked in cages-”

“Yes, Daisy, please don't bring down the building on top of us, all right?” the voice said, “it would be highly unpleasant for everyone involved, including your friends here.”

That was when she was aware of more muted pounding and the sound of crying children. She had not been paying much attention to her surroundings, caught up more in trying to figure out why she could not see anything but writhing, living shadows, than where she was and paused. She could not hear the heartbeat of children like Matt claimed he could, but she was now very aware that there was a lot of barely-heard crying and more pounding of glass or Plexiglas judging by how heavy the muffled thumps were.

“-ye! Skye! Skye!” she strained her ears at the sound of her former name and vaguely recognized the voice. It was followed by the brief image of folding an origami flyer.

“...Kamala?” she asked and heard the pounding increase in an affirmative. Her stomach dropped in response at the dread of Kamala, one of the St. Agnes orphans she had met only mere months ago here. Dammit, she really could not use her powers, especially when she could not see.

“Let her go-”

“I think not,” the voice cut Matt off, “in fact, she seems to be far better suited for this than my initial plan of entrapping you, Daredevil. It would be a thank you present from me to you for ruining and killing my bratva brothers.”

“The Ranshakov brothers are dead,” Matt growled out in disdain, “there's no way you would be able to traffic children out of here-”

“I would never be _that_ cruel to the little children to make them leave a city they've grown up in. No, no,” the voice moved towards her left, and Daisy turned her body to follow, but did not lash out. She tilted her head against the sound of something being unlatched before something that sounded like chains was being brought out. She heard the faint soft pitter-patter of shoe-less feet hitting the concrete ground and realized that there had to be a child at the other end of the chain.

“This is Jaime, one of the first ones I've had to fortune of...freeing from the confines of his boring human childhood,” the voice said, “Jaime, please be a good boy and stand there and keep an eye on our guest, will you?”

There was the clank of chains before they scraped across the floor, past Daisy before halting at about where she thought she had heard Matt's voice speak from. She thought she heard Matt shift a bit, but could not quite tell over the amount of noise generated by the chains.

“Let him, let her, let them all go-”

“We've learned that you would never harm children,” the voice cut through Matt's furiously angry one just as the most unusual sound occurred. Daisy frowned; it sounded like someone had taken the plunger to a toilet bowl, but as she strained her ears, there was no other sound. “Or perhaps the same one. You see, you do anything, Jaime and however many of him he ends up multiplying to keep you complacent, here and Daisy are both under my control. You will stand, you will watch like your friends here, as I finish what I've started.”

There was a moment of silence before Matt suddenly shouted, “Twenty degrees to your right! Thirty to your left!”

Daisy reacted to the directions, throwing both of her hands out as she instantly realized that Matt was being her eyes and fired a blast of her earthquake inducing powers. She was rewarded with the sound of something shattering followed by millions of little things falling to the ground and scattering all over the concrete floor along with a painful 'oof' that she giddily recognized as the voice that had been taunting them.

“Forty degrees to your left-”

Daisy's head suddenly buzzed before she found herself gasping in pain at a punch that landed hard on her stomach even with her light body armor on. She folded in half as she stumbled to regain her footing. But it only served to disorient her even more when she realized she could not _hear_ her footsteps and staggered. Not even a second later, she found herself flying through the air as someone sucker punched her and threw her across the room. She slammed heavily into something hard and unyielding. As she coughed and slid down to the ground, she touched her ears, panic filling her at the lack of sound and lack of noise except for the roar of pure silence.

She was blind with the shadows that were alive and now deaf with the roar of silence.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Daisy could feel the heave of her own breaths, but the silence of it scared her and compounded her efforts to try to at least calm herself down. She tried to grasp at May's teachings, but it seemingly slipped through unseen fingers like falling water. “I can't hear, I can't hear,” she moved her mouth, the vibrations of her vocal chords telling her that she was at least speaking. But it did nothing to help the growing panic she was feeling and she closed her, eyes, trying to breathe through her nostrils, trying to take deep breaths and release it.

Her heart pounded and Daisy snapped her eyes open in despairing frustration. She had hoped in that brief moment that she had been freed from the nightmarish shadows that danced and snapped across her vision. There was no such luck.

She placed a shaky hand against against the hard unyielding thing she had been slammed into and pushed herself off of the ground. Her head spun in sickening circles as she tried reaching out again for a sense of calm. But it was hard, especially with the seemingly unseen, unheard buzzing feeling right in the back of her head. It also hummed just under the palate of her mouth, almost like an angry bee she could not quite hear or get rid of. _Focus Daisy! Focus!_ She mentally berated herself and took another shuddering deep breath and let it loose through her lips. They vibrated with the air current she let out, but she heard nothing except the roar of silence. A very large part of her wanted to cry at the overwhelming helplessness she had suddenly found herself in, but she bit her lip and refused to let the tears even think of forming. Matt had helped her at least before she lost her hearing, that was the comfort she needed to take in and she focused on that. Matt was still here and there had to be a way for him to somehow not hurt Jaime who probably was used as a hostage, and to get the mysterious voice that had been speaking to them. Taking another deep breath, she blew it out and centered herself, feeling a little less panicked than mere moments ago. She turned her focus towards her remaining three senses.

She could feel the vibrations of pounding against the wall that she had been using as her support and realized she must have been thrown into the wall of a cell or something. She did not know what material it was made out of, but had to guess that it was thick Plexiglas or fiberglass of sorts judging by the lack of cool metal based on her touch. Taking another deep breath, she turned her focus to her sense of smell and picked out the musty earthy odor that permeated the area.

It smelled a little like damp concrete mixed with things that more than likely had been stored in the underground facility. She could smell something sour and a little pungent this close to the cell wall. Probably the stink of unwashed bodies and sweat from however many children that had been trapped here; maybe even however many days Katie and Lincoln had been held prisoner. She remembered Matt had said that it had been a few weeks since Nelson and Murdock had received the information. It could have been several more weeks before that when St. Agnes reported the disappearance of the orphans and many more if the other orphanages around the city had not reported any disappearances.

Daisy took another deep breath and was about to center herself before she felt the pounding behind her suddenly increase. Not even a second later, she smelled a sharp pungent odor close to her nose before pain exploded across her face and abdomen. She slammed into the unyielding wall of the cell again and involuntarily cried out, as she felt something slick pour out of her nose. She tasted the coppery bitterness of blood and ducked, curling in on herself just as she felt the passage of something solid pass over the top of her head and automatically lashed out with her legs.

They connected with something solid and a bit roughly clothed. Clothes, armor, her mind supplanted for her as she continued to kick. She had only gotten about two more kicks in before she felt the faintest vibration in the air that told her her attacker had ceased its attack on her and pulled back. She stopped kicking and pulled her legs closer to her, rubbing them in an effort to calm herself down again. She winced at the bruises that had been recently inflicted on her, licking her lips at the coppery taste of blood that dripped a slow line down her nose. The pounding vibration beside her died down and was replaced by a buzzing sensation. She could smell the faint whiff of ozone and realized that it was an electrical current of sorts. She tilted her head.

“...Lincoln?” she mouthed and felt her vocal chords vibrate as she said his name.

The buzzing sensation against her left shoulder blade was long and she realized that he was using his powers to try to communicate with her through the cell she had been thrown against.

She could feel the vibration of someone else pounding to her right, where her right knee was resting against and turned her head towards that direction. “...Katie?” she mouthed and received a vigorous confirmation in return judging by how hard Katie must have been banging on the walls.

That provided some relief as to the fact that they were still alive, though they were also prisoners. She did not know what condition they were in, but the fact that neither of them had escaped told Daisy a few things; they were either injured, restrained, or both. Judging by how ruthless and how much pain had been inflicted on her by the mysterious owner of the voice, she suspected that both were somehow injured. She had a feeling that the voice liked to hurt others. Otherwise, she knew that both of them would have escaped at the first opportunity.

Katie's frantic banging had died down for a second, but suddenly started back up just as the buzz of Lincoln's powers and the growing smell of ozone to her left picked up. An attack was coming again, she realized. Not even a split second later, she felt the vibration of someone close almost at the same time smelling the familiar acrid sweat just above her head. She knocked her head forward, stars briefly lighting up behind her eyes as she connected with something very solid before she felt a liquid of sorts drip down the top of her head. Smiling grimly, she kicked and punched in a forward motion, but her hits just missed judging by the faint passage of air that she could feel in between her knuckles.

Her smiled died as she felt Katie's frantic pounding grow before she suddenly found her hair being pulled and automatically reached up to fight the hands that had grabbed onto her hair. She felt herself dragged away from the cells judging by the fading pounding and buzzing along with the the scrape of and brief coldness of the concrete floor sliding across her back. She clawed against the hands that grabbed her and kicked, twisting and turning her body this way and that to try to loosen their grips, but it was for naught. Pain and bright stars sudden exploded across her vision, momentarily blinding her from the writhing shadows across her vision as she felt herself being slammed onto the unyielding ground and gasped, her head spinning dizzily. Nausea and bile rose up to the back of her throat as she groaned and felt the hands let go of her hair and she laid on the ground, gasping.

She could taste the acrid sweat hovering just above her, the stale smell of more than one person, even the faint whiff of cigarettes above her, but all of it was secondary at how _sick_ she suddenly felt. It was even more disorienting with the lack of vision to try to stabilize her inner ear and Daisy closed her eyes, trying to breathe through her nose in an effort to stop the bile from rising up. She choked, coughing before she found her breath restricted, panic surging in her as she felt someone step onto her chest. She tried to fling her body upwards, to throw off whomever was stepping on her when she choked again, this time, feeling the coarse grains and lines of the bottom of a boot against her neck. The nauseating smell of urine, old feces, sweat, dirt, and sewage that was under the boot so close to her face made her gag and nearly throw up, especially combined with the dizziness and nausea she was feeling from being slammed head-first into the concrete ground.

The next thing she knew, the coppery taste of blood was suddenly gone, as was the putrid smells she had been heaving into her lungs. Daisy's mind went blank at the sudden loss of her sense of taste and smell as unbridled panic and the bubbling of hysteria started to fill her.

That damned voice had taken away not only her vision, but her hearing, and now her sense of taste and smell. She could still feel something liquid in her mouth, but as she swirled it around, it produced no context for her. She could feel her lungs heaving in an effort to breathe, but there was no other context except that she knew her lungs were making their effort against the pressure she felt on both her chest and neck. She couldn't smell _anything_. She knew that someone or more than one had pinned her to the ground, she could feel the faint vibration that she was starting to recognize as bodies near her. Jiaying had been right, each thing, living or not, operated on some kind of frequency and though she had not been consciously aware of how a body vibrated – at this very moment, it was literally the only thing she could focus on as she tried desperately to contain the rising panic.

She was acutely aware of her heart beating fast, the feel of it pounding in her chest giving her the only indication that she had not died. She could not even hear the familiar thump-thump she normally heard in silence. To her, the feel of her heart sounded like a rubbery squishing sound, but it was something. The humming buzz that had first appeared when she lost her sight grew like an incessant alarm that she could not turn off and she grimaced. It had seemingly magnified to a thrum where if she clenched her teeth together, she could feel her own bones shaking.

She did not know if suffocation was similar to this, but she was willing to bet that it was something very similar. The exception was that this was a deliberate slow suffocation. She could feel the growing pounding of several feet, one of the light, the other with a heavier tread, more than likely coming down the stairs she had come from and entering the room, but the pounding stopped as the tread slowed to a deliberate walk before it all but stopped. The soft tremor of scuffs near her told her that her captors were aware of someone else or something else happening. How many were there? She couldn't differentiate between which tread was Matt's and who were the hostiles. She could feel the faint buzzing that was Lincoln somewhere to her right, but she didn't know how far it was or where the others were. She felt so disoriented that she wanted to throw up, wanted to cry. This was worse than Terrigenesis-

Daisy froze.

This was _exactly_ like Terrigenesis. It was not worse, but exactly like it.

She had watched with frightened panic as the Obelisk petrified her after it had been unleashed in San Juan. And the last thing she had seen was Triplett's face twisted in despair, trying to do everything short of touching the damned thing to try to free her. She had felt her whole body freeze, her senses disappear almost all at once as the cocoon of Terrigenesis engulfed her. Then silence had taken over and she thought she had died. She could not move, could not even breathe, could not do anything. She had felt almost _nothing_ at the same time she had been acutely aware that something had changed, that something was growing inside of her. It had pulsated with the beat of her heart, growing in speed as her panic in being trapped in the Obelisk' petrifying effects had taken over. She had tried to do everything to free herself, pounding on metaphoric walls inside of her own head. She had been blind, deaf and deprived of every single sense, except for the buzzing thrum right under the palate of her mouth.

And it felt exactly like like what she was feeling now.

Daisy focused, drawing on the feel of the ground, the coldness of the concrete, the faint shuffling steps of those near her. She drew on the pressure that had been exerted all over her body, the pain and whispers of cuts that felt like sharp knives flitting through the air. She could feel the vibration of the air currents and extended her senses out. The air currents were heavy and thick, the exhalation like tear drops and Daisy could suddenly _see_.

It was not well, but as she extended her senses out she sent a faint pulse of her powers. The room lit up with disorienting images of cages to her right, the faint outline that looked like veins and lit up grids of sinew and muscle of two figures kneeling against the walls, pounding with their fists. That had to be Katie and Lincoln. Near them was what looked like a contraption that had been overturned, little capsules scattered across the ground. A little beyond that was several images that came back looking like smaller versions of veins and sinew that she realized were children. Blocky metallic things that were seemingly heavy and almost unreadable told her that they were probably chained.

She sent out another faint pulse and got more images to her left. There were multiple grids of sinew that all looked oddly the same surrounding what she could only describe as a densely bunched grid of twisting veins and lines. That had to be Matt, and she suspected that the grids surrounding him were probably the Inhuman that the voice had named Jaime. Further to her left she could see the dense layers of concrete that made up the stairs she had rundown from and could see two figures there. One was similarly built like Matt and holding something dense in one hand while the other was drawn back. Agent Barton, she surmised while the person near him...she'd recognize his rubbery heart and calm tremor of placidity around him anywhere. Director Coulson. To her surprise, she could not quite make heads or tails of what he was holding in his hands, but it was very dense, and very big as well as having something she could only identify as...starlight was the best word, in it. Both men had paused, and she could taste the faint vibration of their anger, their exhalations calm, but furious. A very small part of her wondered what they saw.

She turned her focus back towards her own body and found that the faint rubbery squelch that she was starting to recognize as the heartbeat of an Inhuman judging by how she could feel the same thing from Lincoln and Jaime, was the owner of the one that had a foot on her neck, making her almost unable to breathe. A regular human with the faint thrum-thrum of a regular heart beat told her that the person she had chased down the stairs was the one stepping on her chest, further compressing her lungs. There was something solid and unyielding in the man's grip and she realized it was a gun pointed at her. More than likely a deterrent for Coulson and Barton to not shoot. She could “hear” with the concentrated vibration of her powers, the thrum-thrum of others, but they were further away. She suspected that they were positioning themselves around Coulson and Barton since Daredevil was deterred by Jaime.

She swallowed, her throat constricting painfully at the sudden increase in pressure and knew that the voice must have felt her small pulses. She wondered if he took away her sense of touch, but it was hard to tell with her hands already on the concrete ground, giving her all of the information she needed. Panic still nipped at the edges of her consciousness, but she tried to tamp it down as she tried to take a deep breath and center herself. She felt things shift around her before pressure to her neck suddenly increased and Daisy found that she could not draw a single breath.

The panic that she had been trying to tamp down surged forth.

She _needed_ to breathe.

That was the one thing all humans, even Inhumans, needed. Air, breath, something to push oxygen into their lungs and to take away the carbon dioxide. It was Terrigenesis all over again. And Daisy reacted the only way she knew how to combat Terrigensis.

She unleashed her powers and the earth shook.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Daisy was already moving even before the shockwave had finish throwing the two bodies that had surrounded her, into the nearby walls. She rolled to her feet and lashed out with a swift solid kick to the guard that had been holding the gun on her, nimbly dodging the bullet he had desperately fired at her. Furious anger surged in her, replacing the unbridled panic she had felt mere moments ago, as she extended her hand out just as she felt the air currents around her shift, more bullets coming her way. Daisy negated all of it with short controlled bursts and stalked forward as the guard slammed into the ground and slid a few feet away.

She immediately focused on him kicking the gun away from him before leaping over a swipe of his leg as he scrambled to his feet. A part of her was aware that she could see, hear, and feel everything again, her senses returned, but she ignored it as she channeled her fury at what had happened to her. She weaved from a punch and snapped a forward kick, catching him on the jaw and sending him back onto his back. Daisy immediately held out her hand and blasted him into the ground, creating a crater all around him as his head lolled to the side in a shocked daze. Blood dripped out from the corner of his lips as she stared dispassionately at him before turning her focus to the one that had been stepping on her neck.

It was a man, with dirty blond-hair, but a complexion that suggested he was from the more Asiatic-Russian regions than anything else. So, this was the owner of the voice that had the Inhuman powers of negating all of her senses. She was peripherally aware of her surroundings; that Matt was trying to attack Jaime to disable him, Coulson having brought Bambino and was firing the alien weapon at the other guards that had attacked him and Barton. Barton was firing his arrows with methodical precision. She was peripherally and acutely aware of all of it happening, but blocked it out by sheer will. Her senses had returned with such abrupt and overwhelming force that it made the buzz under her palate – that she was beginning to recognize as her own powers surging in her – so sensitive when combined with her returned senses. She was aware, but she did not care.

Daisy narrowed her eyes, focused on the man who worked for the Russian gang in Hell's Kitchen, as she saw him look around, disoriented and dazed by her initial attack. She turned and started to walk towards him, one hand outstretched, waiting for the moment where he regained just a bit of focus and saw her stalking towards him. As soon as it happened, she gave him a chilling smile. His eyes widened, but just before he could use his powers on her again, she blasted him with the vibration and currents of her earthquake inducing powers.

He was thrown into a nearby wall and she let him go as he slid down to the ground. He blinked his eyes rapidly, his mouth opening and closing as he gingerly shook his head. It had to be a very bad concussion judging by the force she had used against him. She watched as he struggled to find some kind of purchase when suddenly she could not perceive anything except the living shadows writhing and snapping in front of her eyes. Daisy shook her head, before raising her hand as she clearly _saw_ him through the tremors and pulses of the ground and even the air around him.

“I can still see, you asshole,” she said, at least she knew she said it as she felt the vibration of her own vocal chords. She fired off another blast of her powers and as soon as she felt it slam into him, her vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste all came roaring back again. She stumbled a little at their sudden return, but kept her hand steadily on him, sending wave after wave of her powers.

She watched with a dispassionate air as he struggled against the blast, pinning him to the wall, his skin and clothing rippling at the force she was exerting on him. The wall around him started to crack and splinter in concentric circles before just as suddenly the it crumbled and blew apart in a shower of plaster and concrete. He flew through the broken wall and out of the range of her powers. Daisy lowered her hand as she stared grimly at the cloud of debris. This had to end, as she started to walk towards the ruined wall.

“Daisy! Skye! Stop!” she heard Coulson call her name, but ignored it as she entered the debris cloud.

Her senses were immediately assaulted with what she could only think of as something she really never wanted to feel ever again. She could smell the concrete mixture, the sense of where it had been – three factories, two of them in upstate New York judging by the manure that had been accidentally mixed in. She could almost even the stale sweat of the construction workers that had put the concrete down. She could feel the soft-light coarseness of the powder concrete against her face as it hung in the air, forming the cloud. She could feel the sharp silica of paint that she had kicked up, and even the jagged rocks that had been mixed in. She could see for a moment, the impossible molecules that made up the cloud. But all of it disappeared as she emerged from the debris cloud to see the man that had tortured her lying on the ground, bloodied and battered. One of his arms was clearly broken, the jagged bone protruding out of his elbow while his ankle was twisted in a completely different direction. She could hear the harsh labored breaths underneath closed eyelids and knew that she had broken some of his ribs.

As Daisy stared at him, she was painfully aware that she could kill him. That all she had to do was extend her arm out, fire off a blast of her powers, and kill him. She could easily claim it like she had almost done the same with Agent Calderon just months ago when she had been in the secret SHIELD bunker in the woods hiding out from the rest of society.

“...Daisy?” Coulson's gentle voice behind her startled her as she immediately placed a hand on her utility belt. She felt his presence behind her and knew that he was looking at her. She refused to turn to meet his gaze, suddenly feeling small and vulnerable. She knew she had lost control, could have brought down the building with him, Barton, Matt, even Katie and Lincoln in it. She could have easily killed all of them without even a second thought when she broke free of the man's influence over her senses. She had used her powers without even a single consideration for the training and for all that Coulson had sacrificed to keep her safe...

Daisy absently rubbed one of the pouches on her belt, where she kept her keepsake from her childhood, as she took a deep shuddering breath and let it out. She moved her hand from the pouch to another one and drew out the small manacles that FitzSimmons had created to negate those with powers. They had only been field tested a few times, but had worked those times and Daisy was determined to at least make up for her recklessness in this mission. She activated them and took two steps forward and knelt down in front of the Russian man. Slapping them onto his wrists, she saw him twitch a little before his eyes snapped open.

She met his gaze straight on and smiled a little wolfishly at the sight of him moving his head in an effort to use his powers on her. Her smile grew a little more as realizing flooded his very being that he could not use his powers and his movements became a little more agitated. Daisy took a step back and as Coulson moved to her side.

“You're very lucky that I'm in a generous mood, Mr. Petrov. Instead of handing you over to the proper authorities for your crimes of illegal trafficking of kidnapped children, child endangerment, and illegal drug trade along with probably a massive amount of weapons charges, and other charges they will drum up and pin on you, you'll be placed in SHIELD custody. But I wouldn't get too comfortable though, you did attack one of my agents and that, I can't forgive,” Coulson's voice was its normal pleasant and amiable tone, but with her over-sensitized senses, she could pick out the furious anger in them.

Petrov – it was finally nice to put a name to the voice of her tormentor – made some angry noises and Daisy realized that she must have broken his jaw with her attack. She only snorted in contempt before glancing at Coulson who nodded at her; his unspoken word that he would take over. She nodded back once, grateful that he was letting her go and walked back out, waving an absent hand to try to clear the cloud of concrete and debris that was slowly settling.

As she emerged from the cloud, she saw Barton securing the last of the guards that had ambushed them. There was a sullen-looking young man sitting on the ground near the stairs, his face a little bloodied, but his hands were tied with the same blue band that Daisy had put onto Petrov. That must be Jaime, she surmised as she saw that Matt was opening the doors to the clear Plexiglas cells that littered the room. Daisy took in the whole of the cavernous room for the first time, seeing what looked like several overturned carts and small yellow pills scattered across the floor. She realized that the pills were fish oil and that there were a bunch of ashes that had spilled across the ground.

Bile rose up in her throat as she choked a little. The ashes were those of children who had taken one of the fish oil pills and had not transformed and instead had turned to stone. She realized that Petrov must have spent some time researching which batch of fish oil pills were the ones with more potent concentration of the Terrigen crystals than those that had been diluted. He must have then spent time buying them in bulk, using the shipping ports as his point of entry before hatching his plan. By the same token, Matt must have directed her to destroy that first when she had been initially blinded.

Near the scattered pills were several Plexiglas cells, all of varying capacities and sizes. Some had chains and children attached to those chains. She saw one that looked a little lizard like with a serpentine tongue and a crest that went up and down on her head. Another seemed to have manifested fine quills of sorts and was curled up in the corner. Others seemed to have chains on them, but like her, had no visible signs that they were Inhuman. But all shared the same frightened expression and Daisy shook her head. Petrov was a monster to do something like this to children.

She absently wiped at her lip, suddenly feeling all of her wounds and aches as the adrenaline died down and the danger had passed. Her senses still felt over-sensitized, but the sharpness that had felt like razor blades was slowly fading as she took another deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to find a sense of calm like May had taught her.

“Skye? Skye!” Kamala's cry pulled her from her thoughts as she glanced to her right to see the young girl barreling towards her, tears streaming down her face before she unceremoniously launched herself at her.

Daisy caught her easily as she went down on one knee and felt the girl hug her tightly back, burying her face into the hard plates of her armor. She managed to keep the grimace off of her face as she felt Kamala squeeze a little too tightly against the bruises she had sustained.

“You're all right, you're all right,” the young girl said, pulling back briefly to stare at her and Daisy fought to keep the watery smile on her face. She wanted to cry at the relief that Kamala looked all right, but had an unhooked chain around her neck. Kamala was an Inhuman and had been changed by the fish oil pills Petrov must have force fed her.

“I'm all right,” she said quietly as she watched her eyes roam all over her, before a frown appeared on her youthful, slightly chubby face.

“But...that man, he kept hurting you, kept kicking you- Are...are you really okay?” Kamala asked before she gave her a shy smile, “I mean you've got superpowers and you threw him back and he was like crashing against the wall and you even dodged that other guy's bullets-”

“I'm okay, Kamala,” she said as she pulled the girl back into an embrace and patted her gently on her hair, “shh, shh...it's going to be okay.”

The young girl made a noise of agreement as she squeezed tightly again and this time Daisy could not keep the wince off of her face, but managed to keep herself from hissing in pain. She really did not want Kamala to worry.

“Looks like you got a little roughed up there, Skye,” she glanced up to see Katie limping towards, her supported by Barton who was shaking his head the whole time.

“Not as rough as you,” she gave her friend a once over who grinned, her teeth stained with blood.

“I'll live,” she looked like she was about to shrug, but a glare from Barton stopped her movement.

“Call for back up next time, okay Hawkeye?” Barton groused, “you do all of the soloing and people get concerned.”

“Says the man who refuses to call for backup on occasion,” Katie jabbed back and Daisy could not help but smile at the undercurrent of affection she could clearly see between the two. She had not quite believed that Katie was Barton's protege until now, but she could clearly see that both mentor and mentee were affectionate with one another. She was glad that Katie had found someone like Clint Barton after all that they had been through.

“So, before I get carted off to Stark Tower, I insisted that Clint here, walk me over so I can properly apologize to you,” Katie started with the same blunt tone that was her custom.

“Uh huh,” it seemed that Kamala was not looking to let her go so Daisy managed to get up, shifting the girl a bit before she settled against her shoulder. Even though Kamala was definitely not of the age where she should be carried by anyone, she allowed her to continue to hug her. It hurt a little to breathe now, but if it helped ease Kamala's worries, she did not mind.

“Petrov was definitely a Circus of Crime member and part of the New York bratva. He was the go between the two and when he caught wind of my investigation here, well...things went tits up-”

“Language, geez,” Daisy gave her a look to which she expected Katie to roll her eyes, but it was Barton instead.

“Really? Seriously, Cap does it, now you? But yeah, language, Kate. Kids and all, and I got a few of them too,” Barton interjected and Daisy smiled.

“Ugh, fine. Killjoys, all of you,” Katie groused before shaking her head, “anyways, yeah, he kind of knew where and how to push my buttons since we both were Circus of Crime, so...I didn't want to involve you and hoped that Clint here would be the only one saving my bacon, but...yeah...kind of told him about what I knew on Inhumans, you, types of powers...”

“Things he did not learn from me,” Lincoln's voice spoke up behind her and Barton and Daisy looked beyond to see him walking slowly towards them. He looked pale and sweaty, but seemed to be in better health than Katie.

Daisy saw Katie frown at the implications and opened her mouth to speak before Barton gave Lincoln an icy look.

“Listen Sparky-”

“But he did learn about you from me, Agent Bishop. Sorry,” Lincoln bowed his head a little, “My initial hope was to throw him off of any trail that might have led back to Jiaying's Inhumans, so I mentioned your name. I didn't realize that he had worked with you, nor that New York was your area. I only thought that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen-”

“Yeah, well, things get swept up pretty quickly here in the Big Apple. It's normal,” Katie shrugged, but Daisy could see that her friend was not so quick to forgive Lincoln for what he had done.

“I went looking for the children that had been evacuated from Jiaying's compound and found this,” Lincoln gestured weakly around the whole area, “got caught off guard by Petrov's attack. I think he had underwent Terrigenesis recently since he had no idea what he was doing.” Daisy could clearly see something haunting behind Lincoln's eyes and realized that Petrov must have not known how to control his powers until he probably practiced on the likes of Lincoln, Katie, and some of the children. It was similar to how she had acted during the first few weeks of Terrigenesis. Lincoln must have felt an even more powerful attack than she had when she had fought him.

She grimaced in sympathy before Lincoln gestured to Kamala, “If it'll be okay with all of you, I know a few safe havens to put the children who've already gone through Terrigenesis, families that Jiaying trusted and families who know about our...gifts.”

“And the others?” Coulson spoke up behind all of them and she turned to see him nod at her, a sign that Petrov was most definitely restrained and probably knocked out by an ICER.

“Back to the orphanages. We can let Nelson and Murdock handle the logistics,” Barton replied, “Avengers won't know about this from me.”

Daisy caught Lincoln swallowing hard, a little surprised before he shot a look at Clint, doing a quick double-take at the same time. She ducked her head half into Kamala's hair to hide her smile at Lincoln's growing realization that he was actually talking to an Avenger, Hawkeye no less.

“I called Hill to divert some SHIELD personnel from what's left of the _Iliad_ to the Cocoon to secure the area,” Coulson nodded at them before turning to Lincoln, “Mr. Campbell, my offer and by extension Daisy's offer still stands. You're welcomed to join us.”

Lincoln smiled grimly and shook his head slowly, still looking pale, “Thanks, but no thanks. Not much of a joiner these days.”

“Lincoln-” Daisy started to protest, but fell silent when Coulson gently held up his hand and waved her protest off.

“I understand, but I hope you realize that we're not your enemy. We only want to help,” Coulson said and Lincoln nodded.

“My priority is making sure the children who've undergone Terrigenesis are homed with families who understand them and can help them. Since Jiaying's compound...well...” He gave them a bracing smile and looked at her.

Daisy nodded before hefting Kamala a little, “Hey girl...”

Kamala made a noise of protest before she sleepily lifted her head up from her shoulder, “But I don't wanna go...”

“Lincoln's gonna find you a good home, okay? You don't have to go back to St. Agnes. Your new family's gonna keep you safe, until you're ready, all right?” She saw Kamala look at her, brow crinkled with some concern before she looked at Lincoln and saw him give her a small smile, nodding in agreement.

“The Khans are a good family, Kamala. They understand what it is like to be different and know what a special person you've become, all right?” Lincoln said and Kamala pursed her lips together before reluctantly nodding.

Daisy nearly lost her footing as Kamala slid from her grip and onto the ground, gritting her teeth together in a staunch refusal to show anyone around her that she was in some serious pain at the abrupt movement. She realized that she was not quite as successful as she initially thought when Barton coughed a little and Coulson gave her a sympathetic look.

“Bye, Skye,” Kamala squeezed her fingers and Daisy squeezed her fingers in return before the girl took Lincoln's hands and the two started to walk towards the other children who were clustered around.

“We should get you patched up,” Barton said before moving Katie away, leaving only her and Coulson.

“How's the hand?” she asked, glancing down at his black glove and he shrugged, curling his fingers a little.

“Kind of actually a good support mechanism for Bambino. A lot stronger and sturdier grip, but Stark's worked some of the more fine-tuned gripping problems out of it. I'm gonna have Fitz take a closer look at it since we can't stop by the Tower each time I need a new hand,” he replied before looking at her, “you okay?”

“Yeah...a few aspirin, some sleep, you know,” she shrugged and saw him give her a skeptical look and sighed, “listen, AC. Not going to lie, it was kind of rough. Not every day you end up going temporarily blind and then running through the whole losing your senses list...”

“He was gloating, you know...”

“Yeah, kind of glad I broke his jaw,” she shrugged and saw him give an amenable nod in return, “but it's a learning process.”

“Yeah, it is,” Coulson agreed, “but...listen, you need someone to talk to-”

“I know...thanks,” she appreciated the sentiment, and it all but reaffirmed in her mind that Coulson had her back in the new initiative to recruit Inhumans for her team. “We knew that it was coming, so consider this one of the first ones with the fish oil pills.”

“Yeah...just hope some of the others don't have Petrov's abilities,” Coulson agreed before looking around, “so, I was hoping to maybe talk to Daredevil...is he an Inhuman-”

“Oh definitely not,” Daisy made to shake her head before thinking better of it. Nodding didn't seem to affect her, but she knew that she was sporting at least a minor concussion judging by how her head hurt and did not want to risk throwing up by shaking her head in the opposite direction. “Daredevil's not Inhuman...just a guy with...a unique gift.” She looked around too, but didn't see Matt anywhere. She supposed that he knew that Coulson and Barton would handle everything, but she had been hoping to at least talk to her friend, to thank him for helping her through the initial fight.

“Still, a good ally to have,” Coulson acknowledged before pressing his lips together and crossed his arms, “get yourself upstairs. I called for a couple of Medical teams and I want you to get yourself looked at.”

There was once a time where Daisy knew she would have protested, saying that she was fine, but in this case, she nodded and headed for the stairs. At the very least, the fresh air would be better for her to finish recovering from Petrov's attack and her still-heightened senses. She did not realize how much she craved the fresh, within New York City reason, air instead of breathing in the stale, moldy smell of this cavernous basement under Terminal 5.

She exited in short order, able to find her way up the stairs and using Barton and Coulson's entryway from within the club rather easily judging by the numerous guards felled by arrows or by blackened blasts across their armor and clothing. As soon as the doors opened, Daisy drew in a full breath of fresh air and closed her eyes, relishing at the smell of the city. Exhaling, she drew in another breath-

Only to catch the faint whiff of smoky leather and the scent that she could only describe as masculine that was covered by the plastique and tactical armored plates. She could feel the faint tingle of worked leather skins, and realized that it was Matt, of all people, that she had smelled with her still-heightened senses. Daisy opened her eyes and glanced to her right, where the shadows met the corner of Terminal 5 and saw the faintest glint of red opaque eyes staring back at her.

“Concert venue didn't have your musical tastes?” she teased as she walked over and saw the familiar half-smile on Matt's face under the mask he wore.

“The acoustics were terrible,” he replied before his smile softened, “glad you're all right.”

She shrugged carefully, mindful of her wounds, “Can't say it's the first time someone's wanted me dead, but I'll admit that this one's a new one.”

“It's probably your personality,” he replied lightly, and she grinned in response, but could hear his faint disapproval in his voice.

“Pot calling kettle black, Matt,” she said and he nodded in acknowledgment, “don't tell me that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen doesn't have a gigantic target painted on his back after, what, taking Wilson Fisk down?”

“Probably, but pot calling kettle back at you,” Matt pointed out.

“Touche,” she said, “call it a mutual sense of worry for each other?”

“All right,” he nodded agreeably, “you're still bossy.”

“And you still like to open the fight,” she shook her head, “playground bullies, just like old times.”

“I didn't trip anyone over this time,” he said and she laughed lightly, wincing a little at the sharp pain. She saw his face morph into one of concern before he reached out to her, pausing as he tilted his head to ask a silent permission.

“Sure,” she said, allowing him to place a gloved palm against the rib area of her armor. She wondered what he heard as he canted his head in a familiar manner that she had seen on him so many times outside of his Daredevil costume. It was a wonder that it had taken her so long to actually figure out that Matt was Daredevil.

“Whatcha hear?” she asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Fractures. None of them are breaks, but it sounds like rough sandpaper rubbing together for me,” he explained as he kept his hand on her armor she nodded.

“I nodded-wait, you can see that, right?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he said, his opaque eyes staring down at her, “it's more like I see a world on fire. Echolocation is probably the closest, but it's not exactly that. I see...things, hear things...even feel and taste things differently.”

“Oh...” she tilted her head thoughtfully, “I guess that's how you're able to differentiate my heartbeat from someone like Katie's or even Lincoln's. Also, probably how you're able to find the tracker in him from before, right?”

“Yeah...” her friend said, “it gets sharper when the acoustics change, like when you stopped the building from vibrating. I didn't have to concentrate as hard to filter out the unnecessary sounds that I always hear.”

It only took Daisy half a second to realize that the tremors she had produced to help herself 'see' the room before she had panicked and unleashed her powers had affected Matt. She winced, “I'm sorry. I didn't-”

“Don't,” he held up his other hand to stop her from speaking, “don't apologize. You did what you had to do, and I was able to use your abilities to help me pinpoint Jaime and neutralize him during the fight.”

“...Yeah...” Daisy fell silent for a second before she felt the hand that had been placed against her ribs move to her arm and glanced down at his gloved hand.

“Are you really all right?” he asked, his voice gentle and she smiled, wiping at unexpected tears that had formed in her eyes. Maybe it was the fact that it was Matt and Matt had seen her at her worse during their shared childhood, or maybe it was the last few hours, but she suddenly felt exhausted, angry, and utterly drained. All of the bravado and front she had put up in front of Coulson, Barton, Katie, and even Lincoln suddenly collapsed into almost nothing.

“I...” she trailed off before she wiped angrily at them, “I...” Daisy stuttered to a halt as she suddenly found herself engulfed in a warm embrace, her senses overwhelmed by the feel of worked leather, reinforced padding, and the strong muscles that held her tightly and protectively. She heard Matt whisper something above her head, into her hair, and finished whatever he had said by planting a gentle chaste-like kiss on top of her head before he continued to silently hold her.

She refused to cry, swallowing back the tears that threatened to pour out of her. She refused to let the wash of despair of what she had felt when Petrov had taken away her senses one by one eat at her. She refused to let him win and silently that he had actually broken her and instead, allowed herself to be bolstered by Matt's reassuring presence. It was akin to how they had each others' backs in the Orphanage's playground, defending each other from the bullies that occasionally harassed them. Petrov was that bully and they had defended each other against him.

“I ran head-first into that, didn't I?” she murmured against his chest.

“We both did,” he replied, his voice rumbling against her ear. It felt odd, like she could hear a lot more, feel the vibration of power across his body, fine tuned and honed to the point like a weapon. It felt pleasant and it felt protective.

“We both did,” she conceded as she felt his arms release her and she stepped back, a faint watery smile on her face. “Thanks...”

He nodded, before canting his head a little and looked beyond her. She turned to see the headlights of cars and vans bouncing closer to Terminal 5 followed by the sirens that signaled the arrival of the police. She turned back to see him turning to leave and a strange impulse overtook her.

“Matt,” she called out and saw him pause, turning back to her and she leaned upwards. She quickly kissed him high on his cheek, near where the border of his mask met his eyes. “Thanks.”

He only gave her the half-smile that she knew had always been for her alone – never Katie's, she now knew that – and turned on his heel and left, disappearing into the shadows of the night as the authorities arrived. Maybe Katie had been right so long ago without outright saying it. Maybe she did have an unrecognized crush on her childhood best friend, but Daisy knew that the ship had long sailed when they outgrew their childhoods and entered the adult world. Whatever remnant was left had transformed into a friendship that she would cherish for a long time. She loved Matt, and though she knew that there was the faint chance of it turning romantic, she would never jeopardize what they had, right now, by doing something that would hurt them both in the long run. Matt had once told her that she was bossy and ran head-first into trouble without any regards for the consequences; who thought to protect others regardless of her own safety. She could safely say the same about her childhood friend.

To her, Matt Murdock was her dearest friend, nothing more, nothing less; and Daisy was content.

 

~END~

 


End file.
